‘The Interview’ Red Band Trailer: Rogen & Franco Serve Their Country

Of course, if the movie’s newly-released red band trailer is any indicator, then any sort of political aspirations that The Interview has are going to be a secondary concern (if even that) behind serving up R-Rated irreverent humor. According to the latest preview, that includes James Franco questioning Seth Rogen’s love for “brown sugar” and the latter sticking government equipment into his rectum, among other scenes that blend pop culture references with lewd gags.

Rogen, in addition to starring with Franco, co-directed The Interview along with his trusted collaborator Evan Goldberg (This Is the End), drawing from a script that the pair co-penned with former Daily Show executive producer and South Park writer, Dan Sterling. Beyond taking down the low-hanging fruit that is modern celebrity news, Sterling and company don’t seem to be aiming to make what you might call an incendiary political statement here.

The Interview revolves around tabloid TV show host Dave Skylark (Franco) and his producer Aaron Rapoport (Rogen), who land an interview with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un (Randall Park) in an attempt to make their names as legitimate journalists… only for a CIA agent (Masters of Sex‘s Lizzy Caplan) to show up knocking at their door, asking them to do their country a service and “take out” the Korean leader, instead.

Most of Rogen’s comedy vehicles tend to be about working through coming of adult age issues – be it anxiety about growing apart from old friends (This Is the End) or the need to leave behind the mentality of youth (Neighbors) – and chances are, The Interview will have a similar thematic arc. Beyond that, it looks as though the film may offer a decent number of laughs… assuming you normally enjoy Rogen/Franco’s raunchy misdeeds, that is.